Love Canal incident is remembered as a "national symbol of a failure to exercise a sense of concern for future generations", as retold by, New York State Health Department Commissioner David Axelrod.....it is an example of ground water pollution

2. LOVECANAL TRAGEDY
BY
T.KAVIYA

3. INTRODUCTION
Love Canal is one of the most appalling environmental
tragedies in American history.
It is the major example for groundwater pollution
Love Canal incident is remembered as a "national symbol
of a failure to exercise a sense of concern for future generations",
as retold by, New York State Health Department Commissioner
David Axelrod.

4. LOVE CANAL DREAM
 Love Canal is a neighbourhood of Niagara Falls, New York.
 It covers 36square feet north western corner of the country
 This canal was created in1890 ,mainly to generate electricity.

5. HISTORY
Love canal tragedy was created by William T. Love ,an
entrepreneur to generate electricity which is needed for
industries.
After 1892, Love's plan changed to incorporate a
shipping lane that would bypass the Niagara Falls.
Due to lack of funds and a nationwide depression only
one mile (1.6 km) of the canal was dug.

6. State of the town at the time
At the time of the dump's closure, Niagara Falls was
entering an economic boom and the population began
expanding.
The Niagara Falls City School District need land to
build new schools and want to purchase the property most
recently used as a toxic waste burial site, from Hooker
Chemical.

7. HOOKERS CHEMICAL COMPANY
The company searching for a place to dump the large quantity
of chemical waste it was producing.
Hooker was granted permission by the Niagara Power and
Development Company in 1942 to dump wastes in the canal.
The canal was drained and lined with thick clay.
Into this site, Hooker began placing
55-US-gallon (210 l) metal or fibre barrels.

8. Cont.…..
In 1947, Hooker bought the canal and the 70-foot-wide
(21 m) banks on either side of the canal.
The City of Niagara Falls and the army continued the
dumping of refuse.
This dumpsite operated until 1953.
During its 5-year lifespan, 21,000 tons of chemicals, products such as
"caustics, alkalines, fatty acids and chlorinated hydrocarbons produced from the
manufacturing of dyes, perfumes, solvents for rubber and synthetic resins", were
dumped[10]

9. CONT….
These chemicals were buried at a depth of
twenty to twenty-five feet (6 to 6.5 m).
Upon its closure, the canal was covered to
prevent leakage. Over time, vegetation settled and
began to grow atop the dumpsite.

10. SALE OF THE SITE
Hooker Chemical deeded the site to the Niagara Falls School
Board in 1953 for $1 with a liability limitation clause.
In the "sales" agreement signed on April 28, 1953, Hooker
Chemical included a seventeen-line caveat that they believed
released them from all legal obligations should lawsuits arise in
the future.

11. SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION
Not having taken control of the land, the Niagara Falls School
Board proceeded to develop the land, including construction activity that
substantially breached containment structures in a number of ways, allowing
previously trapped chemicals to seep out.
The resulting breaches combined with particularly heavy rainstorms released
and spread the chemical waste.

12. CONT….
In January 1954, the architect of the school wrote to the education
committee informing them that during excavation, workers discovered two
dump sites filled with 55-US-gallon (210 l; 46 imp gal) drums containing
chemical wastes.
The architect also noted that it would be "poor policy" to build in that
area since it was not known what wastes were present in the ground.

13. After that only the school was moved 80 to 88 feet and kindergarten also moved.
That same year, a twenty-five foot area crumbled exposing toxic chemical drums,
which then filled with water during rainstorms.
This created large puddles that children enjoyed playing in.
The school district had sold off the remaining land, resulting in homes constructed
by private developers, as well as the Niagara Falls Housing Authority.
While building the gravel sewer beds, construction crews broke through the clay
seal, breaching the canal walls.

14. LEAKAGE OF CHEMICALS
The local government removed part of the protective clay cap to use as fill dirt for the
nearby 93rd Street School, and punched holes in the solid clay walls to build water lines.
This allowed the toxic wastes to escape through the gaps created in the walls.
Hence, the buried chemicals had a further opportunity to migrate and seep from the
canal.
The land where the homes were being built was not part of the agreement between the
school board and Hooker; thus, none of these residents knew the history of the canal.
There was no monitoring or evaluating of the chemical wastes which were being stored
under the ground.

15. CONT…
The clay cover of the canal which was supposed to be impermeable began to
crack.
The subsequent construction of the LaSalle
Expressway restricted groundwater from flowing to the Niagara River.
Following the exceptionally wet winter and spring of 1962, the elevated
expressway turned the breached canal into an overflowing pool.
People reported having puddles of oil or colored liquid in yards or basements.[17]

16. ACTIVISIM
In 1976, two reporters for the Niagara Falls Gazette, David Pollak and
David Russell, tested several sump pumps near Love Canal and found toxic
chemicals in them.
He advised the local residents to create a protest group, which was led by
resident Karen Schroeder, whose daughter had many (about a dozen) birth
defects.
The New York State Health Department followed suit and found an
abnormal incidence of miscarriages.

17. FEDERAL RESPONSE
On August 7, 1978, United States President Jimmy
Carter announced a federal health emergency, called for the
allocation of federal funds and ordered the Federal Disaster
Assistance Agency to assist the City of Niagara Falls to remedy the
Love Canal site.
This was the first time in American history that emergency funds
were used for a situation other than a natural disaster.

18. HEALTH EFFECTS
At first, scientific studies did not conclusively prove that the
chemicals were responsible for the residents' illnesses.
The chemicals present are carcinogens, benzene, dioxin
(polychlorinated dibenzodioxins) in the water.
In 1979, the EPA announced the result of blood tests that
showed high white blood cell counts, a precursor
to leukemia, and chromosome damage in Love Canal residents.
In fact, 33% of the residents had undergone chromosomal
damage. In a typical population, chromosomal damage affects 1%
of people

19. AFTERMATH
Whalen , New York's Health Commissioner instructed people to
avoid going into their basements as well as to avoid fruits and
vegetables grown in their gardens.
People became very worried because many had consumed
produce from their gardens for several years.
Whalen urged that all pregnant women and children under
the age of two be removed from Love Canal as soon as possible.
The school was closed and demolished, but both the school
board and the chemical company refused to accept liability.
The 93rd Street School was closed some two years later because
of concerns about seeping toxic waste

20. NEW DEVELOPMENT
New development began in the 1990 s outside of the contaminated area.
Recreational buildings were built against the fence which separates the
toxic area from the safe area.
Currently the neighbourhood is named Black Creek Villages with many
families living in the area.

21. Abandoned streets on the west side of Love Canal
Evacuated house in the Love Canal, windows boarded up
and damaged by the environment (1978 photo)
Looking down 99th Street in Love Canal

22. REFERENCES
www.toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/Love+Canal+Disaster
www.geneseo.edu › History Department
www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Love_Canal.aspx
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Canal
https://www.epa.gov/aboutepa/love-canal-tragedy